Sunday 3 May 2026 · Eastertide

As He, So We

A reflection on John 20:19–31

Preached by Canon Mark Eldredge

The first thing Jesus chose to say to his disciples after rising from the dead was not what we might have expected.

Picture the scene. It is the evening of the first Easter Sunday. The disciples are huddled together in a locked room in Jerusalem, frightened and confused. They have heard rumours from Mary Magdalene that the tomb is empty, that Jesus has risen, but they do not yet know what to make of any of it. They are behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. And then, suddenly, Jesus is standing among them.

He could have said anything. He has spent three years pouring himself into these men. He has been crucified, buried, and now stands risen and victorious in front of them for the first time. Of all the things he could open with, he chooses this:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
John 20:21

The priority of mission

Jesus is not winging this. He is the Son of God, who created the universe out of nothing. He knows what he is doing. So when he chooses, in that first resurrection encounter, to say “you are sent,” he is telling us something about what matters most.

He could have said “gather and worship the Father with me.” He didn’t. He could have said “love one another and care for one another in the family of God.” He didn’t. He could have said “serve those in need.” He didn’t. All of these are good and important. But the first thing he said was: you are sent on a mission, just as I was sent on a mission.

And there is a reason for that. Jesus knows our human nature. He knows we will gravitate towards what is comfortable. We like to come to church and sing. We like Bible study. We like the warmth of fellowship. We will quite happily serve in the building. But when it comes to going outside the four walls of the church, to lost people who don’t yet know him, we shrink back. It feels hard. We don’t know what to say. So we will fill our diaries with everything else and never get round to it.

Which is exactly why Jesus puts it first. If mission becomes the priority, the rest follows. We will still gather. We will still worship. We will still love one another. But we will also be about the work he actually sent us to do.

The plan for mission

In the same sentence, Jesus gives us not only the priority but the plan. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. In other words: look at how I did it — that is how you are to do it. As he, so we.

1. He left his comfort. So must we.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Jesus left the perfect comfort of eternity with the Father and the Spirit and came down into our dark, sinful world to meet us where we are. He didn’t stay in heaven and shout encouragement from a distance. He came.

Many of us would love mission to be a sign outside the church and a hopeful prayer that someone might wander in. That may have worked fifty or sixty years ago. It does not work today. The culture is no longer Christian enough for people to find their way in by accident. If we want lost people in North Belfast to come to know Jesus, we have to be willing, like he was, to leave the comfort of the church and go to where people actually are.

2. He built real relationships. So must we.

In Mark 2, Jesus is at dinner in Levi’s house, eating with tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees are scandalised — not just that he was near these people, but that he was eating with them. Sharing a table. Building relationships. Knowing them.

It is not enough to drop a tin of food at someone’s door, smile politely, and walk away. That is kindness, and it has its place, but it is not mission. Real mission means actually getting to know lost people, sharing life with them, taking time. As Paul put it, “to the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). You don’t change the gospel. You change yourself, in order to meet people where they are.

3. He was a “yet” person. So must we.

The night before the cross, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” He did not want to go to the cross. The pain, the horror, the weight of sin — if there were any other way, he would have taken it. Yet, he said, “not as I will, but as you will.”

That little word — yet — is everything. He didn’t want to. Yet he did. For our sake.

Most of us, if we are honest, do not want to be evangelists. It feels exposing. We don’t have all the answers. We worry about saying the wrong thing. We’d rather not. The challenge of this passage is to become a yet person. I don’t want to. Yet, for their sake, I will.

He didn’t want to. Yet he did. As he, so we.

A church for the city

St Paul’s & St Barnabas has been a witness in North Belfast for one hundred and seventy-five years. The same Jesus who stepped into a locked room of frightened disciples now stands among us, his words unchanged: peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

He is not asking us to do anything he has not already done himself. He left his comfort. He built real relationships. He stepped forward when he’d rather not, for the sake of others. As he, so we. The question for us this Eastertide is simple, and uncomfortable, and full of hope:

  • Are we willing to leave the comfort of the four walls?
  • Are we willing to build real relationships with people who don’t yet know Jesus?
  • Are we willing to be yet people — to say, I’d rather not, yet your will be done?

Belfast is full of people Jesus loves and died for. The risen Christ has already done the hardest part. He is sending us, in his peace and in his power, into our city.

As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

Listen to the sermon